Some contemporary vehicles provide a motor vehicle with a side door that is movable between closed and open positions by a sliding motion. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,321,488 and 7,856,759 teach mechanisms for effecting such opening and closing by electro-mechanical means. In these designs door opening and closing is effectuated through a drive train that includes small exposed gear wheels that can be expensive to produce and noisy in operation.
Other contemporary vehicles use pulley systems, such as WO 2008/104080 titled “Compact Cable Drive Power Sliding Door Mechanism.” These systems anchor the pulleys to the vehicle and the cables to a hinge having forward and rearward cable terminals linked to the movable or sliding door itself. Thus, additional parts are required to anchor the cables. Springs and/or pretensioners are also used to bias the cable in order to facilitate movement. These unnecessary parts can be expensive to produce and noisy in operation as well.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a door actuation mechanism for a sliding door that overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.